September 25, 2009

The Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago: A mirror of events as well as the sky

A cultural barometer as well as a supertall skyscraper, the Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago has been shaped by events and trends including the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the celebrity of its namesake developer, the housing bubble and the onset of the Great Recession.

Here is a timeline detailing the conception and construction of the 92-story tower, the tallest American skyscraper since the completion of Sears Tower in 1974 and the seventh tallest building in the world.

July 14, 2001

The Tribune reports that New York developer Donald Trump is negotiating to acquire the Chicago Sun-Times building at 401 N. Wabash Ave. (left), with plans to build a huge mixed-use complex on the prominent riverfront site.

July 17, 2001

Trump and the parent company of the Sun-Times, Hollinger International Inc., announce they have formed a joint venture to build a skyscraper, containing condominiums, office space, shops and possibly a hotel on the site of the newspaper’s headquarters. The skyscraper could be more than 1,500 feet tall, making it the world’s tallest building.

Sept. 11, 2001

Two hijacked jets destroy the twin towers of the World Trade Center (left), a third seriously damages the Pentagon while a fourth crashes in rural Pennsylvania. The death toll is nearly 3,000. The next day, Trump calls his architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill of Chicago. He tells them to scale down a design for a 150-story tower he had planned to unveil Oct. 15, 2001.

Dec. 11, 2001

Dramatically cutting the skyscraper’s height in response to Sept. 11, the developer sends representatives to brief city officials on a proposal for a 78-story, 2.1-million-square-foot tower housing offices, condominiums and a three-level riverwalk. The plan subsequently draws praise from Mayor Richard M. Daley, but others criticize it as bland and too bulky.

July 18, 2002

The Chicago Plan Commission approves Trump’s redesigned plans, which call for an 86-story skyscraper on the site of the seven-story Sun-Times building. The City Council adds its approval, but skeptics question whether the tower will be built.

April 15, 2004

Cigar entrepreneur Bill Rancic (left, with Trump) is named the winner of Trump’s popular reality TV show, “The Apprentice,” and the developer names Rancic “president” of the Chicago skyscraper project. Aided by publicity from “The Apprentice” and Trump’s signature line — “You’re fired!” — the tower’s condominium and hotel units sell briskly and at prices far above Chicago’s typical levels. Sales are so strong that Trump scraps the office portion of the project and adds more residential units. The height of the planned tower is 90 stories.

June 24, 2004

Trump and Hollinger International announce that the developer will pay $73 million to buy out Hollinger’s stake in the high-rise. The newspaper prepares to move to another riverfront location at 350 N. Orleans St.

Oct. 28, 2004

The Tribune reports that Trump has lined up financing for his skyscraper, including a $650 million construction loan from Deutsche Bank. Trump flies to Chicago for a ceremonial demolition of the Sun-Times building and says he has agreements to sell three-fourths of the residential units in the new building for a combined $515 million.

Dec. 7, 2004

After Trump (with Rancic, at left) promotes his latest venture — Donald Trump, The Fragrance — at the Marshall Field’s store on State Street, the mogul meets Daley in the mayor’s City Hall office. Daley tells Trump to restore a spire to the tower’s top. Trump had discarded the idea of a spire because he could not sell antenna space. When the Tribune reveals the meeting, the headline reads: “Daley to Trump: ‘You’re spired!’”

March 8, 2005

After toying with a spire extension that would make his skyscraper taller than Sears Tower, the nation’s tallest building, Trump backs off. Buyers have expressed concern, apparently because the additional height could make the building a terrorist target. The spire’s height is set at around 1,360 feet, 90 feet shorter than Sears. Construction begins.

July 26, 2005

With Chicago developer Christopher Carley readying to unveil plans for the 2,000-foot Fordham Spire along Lake Shore Drive (left), Trump predicts the Santiago Calatrava-designed tower project never will be built, in part because it could become a terrorist target. “Any bank that would put up money to build a building like that would be insane,” he says.

Aug. 16, 2005

The last of the skyscrapers caissons is filled with concrete.

Sept. 7, 2005

After serving as a salesman who promoted the Trump project rather than an executive directing it, Rancic says he will stop working for Trump in 2006. “I hope there will be Bill Rancic towers right alongside the Trump towers,” he adds.

Construction workers finish pouring the concrete that completes the tower's superstructure up to the first setback, 16 stories high.

May 24, 2007

As his unit sales slow and the Chicago housing market slumps, Trump stages a news conference (left) in Chicago to drum up business.

June 1, 2007

The superstructure is completed to the level of the second setback at 29 stories.

Dec. 4, 2007

The superstructure rises to the third setback at 51 stories.

Jan. 30, 2008

Even as the upper reaches of the skyscraper remain under construction, the tower’s hotel opens its doors to the public. To shield pedestrians from potential falling construction debris, protective scaffolding remains in place at ground level.

In a “topping out” ceremony, construction workers formally complete the skyscraper’s structural frame, filling its roof with the last of nearly 180,000 cubic yards of concrete. That’s 20,000 truckloads worth of concrete, enough to make 570 miles of sidewalk.

Oct. 29, 2008

With the stock market collapsing, the housing market taking a dive (above) and credit markets seizing up, the Trump skyscraper faces looming financial challenges. The Wall Street Journal reports that while Trump has buyers for slightly less than $600 million in residential units, he will owe lenders as much as $1 billion when the loans come due.

Jan. 3, 2009

On a blustery winter day, aided by a blue-and-white Sikorsky S-61 helicopter (left), construction workers bolt the structural underpinnings of the skyscraper’s spire into place. The spire brings the tower’s total height to 1,361 feet, 6 inches, six inches shorter than the Two World Trade Center tower destroyed Sept. 11, 2001.

May 7, 2009

The sheathing of the spire in gray fiberglass is completed.

Sept. 25, 2009

The upper level of the tower’s three-tiered riverwalk was scheduled to open. The rest of the riverwalk and the skyscraper’s plaza are expected to be complete by late October.